If you, a friend or a relative such as in-laws or parents are planning to visit the United States from India, then it is a well-documented fact that you would certainly need medical protection and health coverage in the form of visitor medical insurance. It is important to discount these absolute facts as to why you certainly need the required coverage but to proactively buy visitor insurance for parents for the entire duration of short-term visit or long term stay in the USA, because of the simple reason that the health care costs are much higher in the United States when you compare them to what it would cost in India.
Visitor medical insurance is relatively a new concept for most Indians visiting USA, however more and more most people are now being aware of its benefits and it is gaining acceptance to cover such risks. Before you decide to buy visitor medical insurance for travel to the USA, it makes a lot of sense to learn more about such plan choices, the acceptability of these plans by providers in the U.S. and what does it cost to buy coverage.
This leads us the most important and common query when it comes to selecting, reviewing and purchasing visitor medical insurance – should you buy a policy from USA or India? Before you make a decision either way, you need to be fully aware of the benefits and pitfalls of this decision from either side. The majority of points are in favor of buying visitor medical insurance from United States than from India are as follows:
Any policy is as good as its acceptability in the hour of emergency, a visitor medical insurance from USA has wider acceptably with a vast rage of hospitals, doctors, laboratories, and many other caregivers included within the PPO network of many U.S. based comprehensive plans. Plans from India are limited in terms of wider acceptability in USA and some doctors or hospitals may not accept your ID card from out of country plans and you may have to pay out of pocket for the services and claim the cost after your return to India.
The USA based plans are highly regulated by the respective Department of Insurance is each state, as an consumer, you are better protected when it comes to your claims being honored. This is not the same for plans from India, it is quite common that the claim process may be delayed due to administrative difficulties, and the rejection of claims is more.
U.S. based plans offer a wide range of featured benefits and plans options that are unparallel when you compare them with policies offered by Indian companies, which have very few options and as the insured you may not find the option that suits your specific coverage needs.
When it comes to customer care and support, USA based plans feature 24/7 support that is top notch and they will go the extra mile to see that your needs are addressed. This is not the same when it comes to plans offered by Indian insurance companies; customer service is not yet advanced in comparison. Most Indian companies are new in the industry, they are either in the learning mode or just expanding their customer care teams, still they have a long way to go to be able to provide proper support as U.S. based company’s do.
USA based plans offer easy and timely renewal options, making extension of coverage dates as simple as a few clicks. On the contrary, most Indian companies do not offer renewal or have extension facilities built into these plans, the insured individual may run into a wall when it comes to extending the visit and you will be uninsured for the extended duration or you may have to buy a new visitors health insurance policy.
In any dispute arises with regards to your policy, your complaint will be routed to India. For US based plans, the policy jurisdiction is the USA and the complaint can be easily settled in United States, as you will be holding US based coverage.
The quoted cost of premiums for US based plans is slightly higher when it is compared against India based plans, but before you draw any conclusions, dig a little deeper. Indian policies are cheaper in general, but the actual cost difference may be very little if you consider the benefits offered and premium cost paid. Indian policies may seem cheaper at first glance, but may not provide adequate and well-rounded coverage that you really need and get with an US based policy.
Before buying visitor medical insurance for travel to the USA, you should learn more about the policy by reading the plan brochures. It is also prudent to buy coverage that you really need, instead of buying a cheaper policy that has no meaningful benefits included. VISOA.com features several USA based visitor insurance plans that offer top rated coverage for visitors to USA, and even for other destinations around the world. In conclusion, it will always be better to review and buy the best travel insurance for Indian visitor traveling to USA from a US based provider.